In today’s edition of Evening 5 — Japan household retailer Daiso is planning to pump in RM1 bil to build a global distribution hub in Port Klang, its second international hub after China. Meanwhile, Boustead Plantations share price saw a bounce when LTAT stepped in to privatise it after its earlier deal with KLK fell apart.
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00:00 [Music]
00:04 Japanese household item supplier, DAISO, will be investing $1 billion to build its
00:09 largest global distribution center in Port Klang, Selangor next year.
00:13 The GDC in Port Klang will be DAISO's second international hub after China,
00:17 according to the report from Bernama.
00:19 DAISO Malaysia Group Chairman Tan Sri Kairul Adeb Aburahman said the GDC will function as
00:25 a global distribution hub for DAISO to launch logistics operations for the entry of DAISO's
00:31 products from Japan and China, including distribution to 22 countries in Asia and the
00:36 Middle East. The GDC will take up an area of 130,000 square feet and is expected to commence
00:42 development in May 2024 and be completed in May 2026. It is scheduled to be operational in January
00:50 2027. Selangor MB Datuk Sri Amiruddin Shari, who was at the signing ceremony related to the deal,
00:56 said that the construction of the global hub resulted from ongoing efforts by Invest Selangor
01:01 over the past few years and was grateful that the company chose Selangor for the high-value
01:06 investment. He pointed out that while the global logistics hub is not a new thing in Selangor,
01:11 as many have opened in the states such as Lazada and Shopee,
01:15 the DAISO one will be the biggest hub for the retailer around the world.
01:20 Bowstep Plantations' share price climbed to RM1.41 in morning trade after the Armed Forces
01:30 Fund Board swooped in to privatise its 68.01% controlled plantation group at RM1.55 per share.
01:37 It eventually closed at RM1.40, 10% higher than its pre-suspension price. It was among Bursa
01:43 Malaysia's most active and top gainers, with over 79 million shares transacted. LTAT's offer
01:49 price matches Kuala Lumpur-Kepong's proposed acquisition of a 33% stake and one share in B
01:55 Plant from LTAT and Bowstep Holdings for a cumulative RM1.15 billion, which fell through
02:01 on Wednesday. Under the deal, KLK had planned to extend a mandatory general offer at RM1.55 per
02:07 share to privatise B Plant, with KLK controlling a 65% stake and LTAT the other 35%. However,
02:16 with the KLK deal now defunct, LTAT has taken the reins and is expected to fork out RM1.11 billion
02:22 to acquire the remaining 31.99% stake in B Plant it does not control. It should be noted that the
02:29 KLK-B Plant deal was a point of contention in Parliament, as a number of opposition leaders
02:34 claimed it was not in line with the government's aim of achieving the Bumiputra corporate equity
02:39 target of 30% by 2025. It is also worth noting that earlier this week, Prime Minister Datuk
02:46 Sri Anwar Ibrahim said the Ministry of Finance had allocated RM300 million to aid LTAT in
02:53 addressing its liquidity issues and another RM2 billion by year-end to "save" LTAT. With the
02:59 offer price remaining the same at RM1.55, investment analysts still say the deal is valued
03:05 at a premium in the context of the plantation sector. Kenanga maintained its recommendation
03:10 for shareholders to accept the offer as it would allow them a better exit. As for KLK,
03:15 HLIB research was mildly positive on the development as it did not expect the
03:20 original deal to be earnings accretive, at least in the near to medium term.
03:25 Sunway Construction Group's JV with construction firm Kajima Malaysia has won a RM595.38 million
03:36 contract to build a distribution centre warehouse for Daiso Malaysia Group in Pulau Indah, Selangor.
03:42 The contract will span a period of 34.5 months and is expected to be completed by the second
03:47 quarter of 2026. The JV is unincorporated but Suncorn said that its unit will enter into a
03:54 detailed JV agreement with Kajima with an equal equity split with Kajima positioned as the JV's
04:00 lead. Meanwhile, Suncorn also announced that the same subsidiary also secured a job from
04:05 K2 Strategic Infrastructure Malaysia to develop a data centre in Johor, valued at RM190 million.
04:12 According to a separate filing, this project is for a period of approximately 14 months
04:17 and is expected to be completed in phases with the final phase to be completed by the fourth
04:21 quarter of 2024. The construction player notes that both projects are expected to contribute
04:27 positively to its earnings for FY2023 onwards. Suncorn notes that the total for the new projects
04:33 it has secured year-to-date amounts to RM2.2 billion.
04:37 Financially distressed Capital A has requested to further extend the deadline of the company
04:46 to submit its regularisation plan, which was originally due on October 7th to December 31st,
04:52 2023. In a boss filing, Capital A said that it had filed said request with Bursa Securities
04:58 on Thursday. This marks the third time that Capital A has requested to further extend the
05:03 deadline. The original deadline on January 7th, 2023 had been extended twice, first to July 7th
05:09 and then October 7th. In January, Capital A CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes was quoted saying that the
05:16 group is optimistic of exiting PN17 status by the end of this year. But in June, he was then
05:22 quoted saying that exiting PN17 status was almost as big a challenge as restarting the airline.
05:29 To recap, Capital A slipped into PN17 status in January 2022 after its external auditor,
05:35 Mrs Ernst & Young, raised material concerns about the airline's ability to continue as a going concern.
05:41 The Federal Court has upheld the Mareeva injunction imposed by the High Court on March 22,
05:51 2022, involving assets worth RM42 million in the suit filed by SRC International and its subsidiary
05:58 against Ex-PM Datuk Sri Najib Razak, a three-member Apex Court bench led by Federal Court Judge
06:03 Tan Sri Nalini Padmanathan said the bench unanimously dismissed Najib's motion for leave
06:09 for the matter to be heard on its merits and a chance to revisit several old case laws in the
06:14 granting of the Mareeva injunction. Najib's counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafi Abdullah cited
06:19 the Lakatamia Shipping Co. v. Toshiko Morimoto 2019 case at the Court of Appeal, but Nalini said it
06:27 does not alter the test in the granting of the Mareeva injunction. Nalini, who sat with Federal
06:33 Court Judges Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Abu Bakar Jais, ordered Najib to pay 30,000
06:38 costs to both SRC and its subsidiary, Gandengan Mentari. Najib's failure to get leave to appeal
06:44 means that the Mareeva injunction to freeze his assets in line with the suits filed. Last week,
06:49 the High Court also dismissed Najib's application to set aside a US$681 million,
06:55 RM3.2 billion Mareeva injunction in a suit involving 1MDB and another 1MDB subsidiary.
07:02 The court also dismissed Najib's application to set aside a US$1.2 million, RM3.2 billion Mareeva injunction in a suit involving 1MDB and another 1MDB subsidiary.